


The Other Crazy One

by anathomical



Category: Blue Beetle (Comic)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-21
Updated: 2012-12-21
Packaged: 2017-11-21 21:14:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/602146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anathomical/pseuds/anathomical
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The holidays can be just a bit more hectic when there are two superheroes in the family, but as with so much else, the Reyes family takes it in stride.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Other Crazy One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [zoamh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zoamh/gifts).



> Thanks to my betas, who know who they are. Any grammatical or logical errors you spot are probably ones that I snuck in at the end after they looked over the whole thing for the bajillionth time.
> 
> And also a huge thanks to zoamh for the request! Like, I can't really express how excited I was when I got it. I mean, how often do you get a request for Blue Beetle AND Red vs. Blue at the same time? It took me a week to even decide between the two! And I read and re-read your letter, like, a dozen times, and it never failed to bring a smile to my face. (And if only I'd had time, the RvB finale left all sorts of ideas swirling through my head.)
> 
> Anyway, thank you for an amazing set of requests, and I hope you enjoy reading this because I seriously loved writing it.

“Is that a giant green fist?” Jaime Reyes, Blue Beetle, managed to give his sister an incredulous look despite being covered in blue alien space armor.

“You know it. You can’t beat the classics.” Milagro Reyes, Green Lantern, smirked. Then she proceeded to swing said giant green fist into one of the oncoming flying saucers. “That’s fourteen for me, by the way,” she pointed out, that smirk widening. “You’re down by three.”

“They’re just automated scout drones. No challenge,” Jaime groused. “And when did this turn into a competition, anyway?” He did lift both arms, though, and took out a pair of the saucers with simultaneous plasma blasts. He didn’t say anything. Or smirk. At least as far as his sister could see.

“Show-off.” Because, come on, it wasn’t like she needed to see his face to know he had that smirk going on. “And you’re still behind.” The giant green fist took out another pirate scout. “By two.” Then another one. “Whoops. Three again.”

“I should have just let you handle this one on your own. I was still on my first slice of pie.”

That was the cost of being in the hero business, though. Sometimes aliens invaded while you were in the middle of Christmas dinner.

It had been a nice, cozy one, too. Just the six of them: Bianca, Alberto, Jaime, Traci, Milagro, and her new boyfriend Jerome. Her new boyfriend, who had been doing quite a good job of charming the entire family.

“Oh, yeah,” Jerome was saying. “The guy was a total sleaze. Couldn’t seem to take no for an answer. Real pushy, getting up in this beautiful woman’s space. I was about to step in and, I don’t know, make a scene or something, when she threw her drink in his face. Like, I didn’t even know that people really did that. Thought it was just a movie thing. Then the guy proved he was an idiot as well as sleazy, because he reached out to grab her or something. Next thing I know, she’s got him in some sort of crazy arm lock and he’s making this high-pitched whining noise.”

Jerome shrugged helplessly, laughing. “And that was when I realized that I _had_ to meet her.”

Traci was grinning broadly, on the verge of laughing herself. “Way to go, Milagro!”

“Might have been smarter to run,” Jaime chuckled, shaking his head and shooting his sister an amused grin, then hissing as two pairs of feet kicked him under the table at the same time. Both Milagro and Traci had their eyebrows arched in his direction. “What?” he complained. “Most guys would have run.” Had in the past, really. Which earned him another pair of kicks.

“What can I say? I--” Jerome stopped speaking suddenly as both Milagro and Jaime stiffened simultaneously, and then stood.

Bianca Reyes exchanged a familiar glance with her husband and sighed. “Both of you?” she asked.

“Alien invasion,” Milagro answered.

“Urquan Space Pirates,” Jaime added.

Traci made a face, settling back into the chair that she’d half gotten out of. “Space. Ugh. You two have fun with that.”

Milagro smiled. “Should be a piece of cake.” She frowned slightly. “Speaking of,” she turned her glance to Jerome, “if there isn’t at least one slice of pie left when I get back, I am going to hold you personally responsible. And,” now she turned to her father, “no embarrassing stories. I’d like to still have a boyfriend while I’m enjoying that pie.”

Then it had been out the back door and off to orbit, and now Jaime was three saucers behind.

A quick burst of quasi-spun electrons brought him one closer.

Except that they were now out of alien flying saucers. Maybe Milagro was right. Maybe you couldn’t beat the classics.

Milagro let her giant green fist vanish, and Jaime’s weaponry pulled back into his armor. He was frowning.

“I know I’m good,” Milagro said, her own expression matching his, “but that was way too easy.”

“Yeah,” Jaime agreed. “And those were short-ranged saucers. They have to have come from somewhere nearby. Some sort of mothership.”

“Urquan Pirate Carrier is my bet. They use them all the time out on the fringes. Though what they’re doing in this part of space is beyond me. It’s not like there’s much in the way of shipping to pick off around Earth. Besides, after the way I wrecked their operations in Sector 104 last month, you’d think they’d know better than to mess around in Sector 2814..”

Jaime barked a laugh, but then froze. “Actually... it could be personal, you know. I mean, they know it was you, right?”

“Well, yeah.” It wasn’t like Milagro really did subtle. She had a natural inclination for the direct approach, and then her training officer had been the ‘crazy one’. “That’s how deterrent _works_. You hit them in the face hard enough that they remember not to try it again.”

“Maybe.” But Jaime wasn’t about to challenge her approach. She actually had more experience with problems outside the solar system than he did, after all. “But it’s also a pretty good way to make enemies. Think they might be looking for revenge?”

“Oh, come on. They couldn’t be that stupid. I mean, I hit the Urquan High Grand Admiral pretty hard, but I don’t think I hit him hard enough to cause the sort of brain damage that would lead him to something so obviously suicidal.”

This time Jaime’s laugh didn’t cut off. “Come on. You have to admit that sometimes you have that effect on people.”

Milagro’s smirk was infuriatingly familiar. “Yeah, well, it’s not my fault people have a hard time admitting how much better I am than them.” She shrugged that off. “But, yeah, it’s possible. And if that’s the case, we should probably go find the carrier.”

Jaime grinned. “Yeah, because you just know that despite your warnings, Dad’s busy telling the most embarrassing stories he can come up with right this moment.”

“Ugh!” Milagro exclaimed. “You’re right. Let’s hurry!”

Two colored streaks shot toward the asteroid belt, the green one just slightly ahead of the blue one. Once they were in among the rocks, they slowed.

“Where would you hide an Urquan Pirate Carrier out here, anyway?” Jaime asked, opening up the Scarab’s sensors.

“Standard procedure would be to hide in the shadow of an asteroid with a diameter of at least three kilometers. Shadow-side.” Milagro’s head swung to the right, and then her path veered to follow. “A lot like that one.” They hadn’t even checked the thing out yet, and she already sounded triumphant.

Jaime was just about to point that out when a swarm of scout saucers sling-shotted out from behind the asteroid. “Well, at least I’ll have a chance to catch up,” he said, opening fire.

A giant green fist slammed into one his targets before the overcharged muon blast could land. Then, to add insult to injury, _another_ giant green fist slammed into the other.

Wait. Another giant green fist? That could only mean--

“Hey, kiddo! Good to see you.” Even via subspace communication, Guy Gardner’s voice came at a headache-inducing volume. Jaime facepalmed.

“Oh, and you’re here, too, Blue.” Guy scowled slightly. “No wonder I’ve got a headache. And here I thought it was just a hangover.”

Jaime scowled back, but the expression was overwhelmed by Milagro’s massive grin. “Hey, big guy!” She flew over, a streak of green that stopped abruptly as she punched Guy in the shoulder. “You’re in my neck of the woods and didn’t say anything?” She was totally offended.

“I was gonna!” Guy protested. “I just got in yesterday. I woulda swung by today if this hadn’t come up.” His eyes widened slightly as he realized he’d said too much.

Milagro’s grin flattened. “You came up here to fight Urquan Space Pirates, in _my_ sector, and you didn’t call?” Ooooh. Someone was angry.

“Er, look,” Guy looked a bit panicked. “I was gonna call. Really! I, um, just wanted to check things out first, you know? Make sure that there was really something worth calling you out for!”

“I don’t think she’s buying it,” Jaime stage whispered. He was being helpful!

“She’s not,” Milagro agreed. Another swarm of scout saucers sped into view, and she turned her attention to them. “We’ll talk about this later.”

“Oh, she does that well, doesn’t she?” Jaime asked in that same stage whisper.

“Can it, Blue,” Guy growled. Someone wasn’t looking forward to later.

Two Green Lanterns and a Blue Beetle packed enough firepower to blow through the defenses of an Urquan Pirate Carrier in under five minutes. It took them seven because Guy and Milagro kept getting in each others’ way in their fight for ‘points’. Jaime just counted himself lucky that they seemed to be ignoring him so that he could roll his eyes and clean up whenever they got too distracted to be thorough.

So seven minutes later Guy was busting his way onto the Pirate Carrier’s bridge.

“It’s the crazy one!”

“That’s right,” Jaime heard Guy’s laugh. “I’m the crazy one.”

The panicked voice from the bridge spoke up again as Milagro barged in next. “It’s the _other_ crazy one!”

“That’s right,” she laughed. “The other crazy one.”

That was followed by the sound of a fist landing against flesh. Hard.

Jaime came onto the bridge just in time to see Guy’s nod of approval.

“Nice shot!” the Lantern complimented as she threw another one.

“Hey again, High Grand Admiral. I didn’t think I’d see you again so soon.” The Grand High Admiral was ugly. Really ugly. Sort of like a giant green and purple centipede. Or a worm. Or... something. Something big. The Urquan seemed to take up the entire bridge, coiled around some sort of structure on the ceiling.

“Not this time!” the alien bellowed, swinging long spike-tipped tentacles toward the two Green Lanterns. Jaime winced, his shoulders hunching slightly as Guy batted the attack away with a seemingly effortless flare of green energy, and Milagro took advantage of the opening to throw another punch. And another. And another.

Jaime sighed, knowing that there would be no good way to tell this story properly because aliens looked so alien. Because while telling people that his sister beat the crap out of the Urquan High Grand Admiral would give them some hint of how impressive the whole thing was, that wouldn’t quite get the point across to anyone who didn’t know what said Urquan High Grand Admiral looked like.

Of course it wasn’t all fun and games. Well, not for the space cops, at least. After the Grand High Admiral was out of it, wrapped in restraining bands of green with a gag added when he wouldn’t stop spouting ridiculous threats, the Green Lanterns had to clean up. Apparently even space cops had procedures and paperwork. Milagro secured the Urquan pirate while Guy called the incident in to headquarters and arranged for somewhere to stash him. Jaime didn’t really have anything to do other than stand, watch, smirk in amusement, and wish he had a giant bowl of popcorn.

Especially when his sister busted out her most charming smile and wheedled Guy into handling transport even though she was the Lantern in charge of the sector. After all, it was Christmas, and her family was waiting. He wouldn’t make her miss the rest of dinner just to transport some stupid alien with an overinflated sense of its own importance, would he? He didn’t want her to get into the fact that he had responded to an alien invasion without notifying the local Lantern, did he? He didn’t want her to keep giving him the puppy-dog eyes, did he?

Of course he wouldn’t. Milagro flashed him a grin as she and her brother dashed off for home. There better be some pie left. She still had a few punches left in her.

The sun was down by the time they got home, and to Milagro’s horror Alberto and Jerome had retired to the living room, where they seemed to have established a rather deep rapport. As she walked in, Jerome’s eyes were dancing with a bit too much amusement for her peace of mind.

“Please tell me that you at least saved me some pie...” she sighed in resignation.

Jerome stood up, grinned, and walked over to give her a quick kiss. “Hey, beautiful. World all saved and stuff?”

It turned out that Alberto Reyes had absolutely perfected the soft, but incredibly threatening, sound of throat clearing. Jerome pulled back suddenly, glancing over his shoulder, eyes wide with worry. Milagro rolled her eyes at her father and mouthed ‘behave’ at him while Jerome wasn’t looking.

“Hey, it’s me. Of course it is.” She smirked, drawing her boyfriend’s attention back to her. “I don’t do things halfway.”

That prompted Jerome’s easy laugh, the one that brought that amazing smile of his. “No, you don’t. It’s all or nothing with you.” He shot a quick glance over his shoulder before stealing another quick kiss and speaking again. “I actually managed to save you two slices. Pecan and apple. And there’s cocoa.”

Pursing her lips, Milagro looked up at him thoughtfully, trying to keep her fond smile from being too obvious. “Well, that’s a pretty good start.”

Jaime walked out of the kitchen with a plate in one hand and a fork in the other. “Actually, just the pecan. Oh,” he smirked, managing to look positively insufferable. “And we’re out of ice cream.”

“Who’s behind now, sis?”


End file.
